Aunty Entity
Aunty Entity, played by Tina Turner, was a ruthless ruler of a post-apocalyptic civilization known as Bartertown in the Australian film Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. Character inspirations and origins Aunty Entity is not a standard villain. When creating the character, George Miller started with an assumption that 'today's tyrant is yesterday's hero'. Aunty Entity built Bartertown with good intentions, trying to rebuild civilization, bring back trade and give people hope for tomorrow. Unfortunately, according to Miller, in the process she became a tyranthttp://multiglom.com/2015/05/12/george-miller-the-1985-interview/: Tina Turner was selected to play the role because she is perceived as a positive persona and to give the sense that Aunty Entity was once a hero which amplifies how tragic that character is. She was selected because Aunty's age was to be indeterminate, to underline the fact she is a survivor with a lot of charisma, capable of building a place like Bartertown and that she represents both good and evil. Aunty's personality reflects Max's in a way that she built a physical world for herself and she will not allow for any evolution or change, much like Max who is incapable of letting go of his past. It was argued by George Millerhttp://multiglom.com/2015/05/12/george-miller-the-1985-interview/ that, should Max join The Lost Tribe and rebuild civilization in destroyed Sydney - he would become just like Aunty Entity, desperately protecting his world to eventually become a tyrant. Max's connection to his past is internalized however, unlike Aunty Entity's which is represented by Bartertown. Ultimately she recognizes that Max and herself share the same qualities, which is the reason she spares his life at the very end of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. Biography Aunty claimed that before the pox-eclipse she was a nobody, but the day after, she had the chance to become a somebody, for she was one that survived. She was an Amazon-like woman who ruled with an iron-fist but found herself being challenged by the diminutive Master and his brutish henchman Blaster: Aunty Entity is enraged at this but is unable to publicly oppose the duo of "Master Blaster" due to Master being the only one who knows how to work all the machines that keep Bartertown running. To this end the scheming Aunty Entity manipulates Mad Max into a gladiatorial battle (known as the "Thunderdome") against Blaster with hopes Max will kill him, in effect using Max as a convenient means of exacting political assassination without being caught. Max manages to defeat Blaster in combat but refuses to kill him when he realizes after knocking his helmet off, that he suffers from Down Syndrome. Aunty Entity is enraged and has Blaster executed before invoking the harsh ritual of "bust a deal, face the wheel" upon Max. Max lands on Gulag, and is exiled from the town to the harsh desert outlands where his chances of survival seem bleak. However, Max is rescued from near death by a band of children living in paradise-like oasis hidden in the desert wilderness. As Max recovers he learns of their cult-like belief in "Tommorrow-morrow-land" -- a mythical paradise they believe lies in civilization. Max tells them that all the things they seek used to exist, but were destroyed by the apocolypse they recite as part of their telling of the past. He tells them that if they leave their secluded paradise, the first thing they will find is Bartertown, assuming the desert doesn't claim them first. However a small band of the children refuse to listen and head off regardless - Max has little choice but to pursue them. Max catches up to the children just as they are being swallowed by a large sinkhole in the sand dunes. Max manages to help pull some of the children to safety, however at least one is sucked under and lost. They have already reached the outskirts of Bartertown, so they continue on together in search of Master. The dwarfish Master has been reduced to little more than a slave by Aunty Entity due to the death of his protector, Blaster. Max and the children free him, however the guards are alerted in the process and a frantic chase ensues between Aunty Entity's driving elite, and Max and the lost children who are escaping in a modified truck that rides on train tracks. The disruption in Bartertown's methane factory results in it becoming damaged and exploding. Max and his followers ride the rail line until it ends, which is very near the hideout of the pilot that attacked Max in the beginning of the movie. Max coerces him to help them escape in the Captain's Transavia PL-12 Airtruk, but there is too much weight and not enough runway between them and the attackers' vehicles, so Max takes a truck and drives it in front of the airplane, smashing a hole in the roadblock enabling the children to escape. Aunty finds Max, and having earned her respect, spares his life. She then departs, to presumably make good on her vow to rebuild Bartertown. What becomes of Aunty Entity's civilization and the political position she once had remains unknown at the conclusion of the story. Characterisation Aunty Entity has great influence over Bartertown, and her scheming, political mind has secured her leadership over the town. She advocates many laws which she claims she wrote, and has established a series of rituals which have woven themselves into her brand of civilization to ensure her continuous leadership. Despite all that she has helped build and for all the political cunning she wields, her lack of the scientific knowledge about the workings of Underworld leads to her inevitable downfall. Aunty Entity is a fan of music and has a creative mind, she has her own musician, Ton Ton Tattoo, in her quarters who plays the saxophone for her. Aunty Entity may well be a musician herself (see We Don't Need Another Hero). Trivia *Singer Tina Turner, who played Aunty Entity in the film, contributed a musical single to Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (We Don't Need Another Hero) - which explores the hypothetical themes that The Lost Tribe may well have pondered during their decision to leave the Crack in the Earth for Tomorrow-Morrow Land. *Aunty Entity is referred to as a "Dominatrix" according to the DVD case. *Aunty Entity's steel mail dress weighed more than 55 kilograms (121 pounds). Gallery Screencaps Aunty_Entity.png Production stills Crossbow pistol.png References Category:Characters Category:Antagonists Category:Mad Max 3 Category:Mad Max 3 characters